Oct. 17 was far from a regular Thursday at Oakland University as it became the Tercer Jueves Networking Day to commemorate the end of Hispanic Heritage Month and the empowering community of Latinx business owners in Michigan.
Organized by the Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (MHCC), the networking event brought MHCC members, business professionals, corporate representatives, students and faculty together at the Oakland Center’s Gold Rooms to strengthen connections within the Latinx community.
“We are a business association, a nonprofit business association…with the purpose of continuing to make connections between businesses in the business-to-business space,” Mark Moreno, MHCC executive director, said. “[MHCC] began having conversations with OU over a year ago, and tonight is the night that it has all come to fruition.”
After an hour of networking, the “If you can see it, you can be it” panel discussion began with local Latinx leaders talking about representation, perseverance and the place of culture in the building of a business community.
Laura Cazares, assistant Dean of Students and director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at OU, opened the podium discussing the importance of DEI efforts.
“We had one thing in mind and really took it into account: how can we have our events with intention and social justice behind them?” Cazares said. “It’s about not just what we’re doing here today, but what we can do within our professions. So as we mentor people, or as we are mentees, always remember where we came from, so that can be our guiding light.”
Cazares explained that cultural humility is the understanding that our lived experiences within a culture do not encapsulate the entirety of that culture, thus empowering those with whom we engage in conversation to take an active role in informing and decision-making. She emphasized cultural humility and empathy through the learning process as key strategies to support DEI efforts.
“I know that in the courtroom, seeing individuals within the Latino community came into my office, and I was sometimes the only person between them and the thing they feared the most,” Judge of the 52-3 District Court in Oakland County, Laura Polizzi, said. “For them to have that confidence in me and for me to understand not only the words that they’re saying but understand their culture and understand how that can impact their family, it makes me fight for them even harder.”
Bruno Alejandro Olivera Diaz, Head of North America Diversity Supplier Development at Stellantis, exemplified the potential of networking programs like Tercer Jueves.
“I started with the chamber when I was a senior in high school, and now I’m on the board. I’m part of the Board of Directors now, but I met someone from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation in one of these events who gave me my first internship,” Olivera Diaz said. “I also had somebody here in the audience, Aura, who was my counselor at the time, and she explained to my parents exactly what I needed to do to make sure that I graduated from college.”
After the panel discussion, OU students resumed networking with the local Hispanic enterprises and the Mexican Consulate in Detroit.
“We have developed a very good relationship with Oakland University, we have a lot of things to work with [students] at the university,” Roberto Nicolas Vazquez, consul of Mexico in Detroit said. “For us, it’s very important that the Hispanic community is visible all around the student body, or all around the society of Michigan — the more visible the Hispanic community the better.”
MHCC echoed the importance of student involvement in state nonprofit business associations and multicultural networks.
“Latinos are the future of this country, we are almost 20% of the total US population,” Moreno said. “We want to share stories with you to encourage and to inspire you to move forward in your trajectory, whether it’s as a business owner, as a professional in the workplace, as a mom, whatever it may be.”
